Fossil birds in the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia: composition, development and scientific value

A review of the fossil and subfossil avian record kept in Bulgaria is presented. The only collection of fossil birds in Bulgaria was established in the 1980s. 99.6% originates from 98 localities throughout Bulgaria. Foreign fossils originate from Azerbaijan, Greece, Hungary, Namibia and New Zealand. Bulgarian avian fossil and subfossil records in collections outside the country are found in museums in France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom. In August 2003 the collection numbered 13,848 bones, two casts and one eggshell representing 349 taxa. Taxonomic composition includes: 22 fossil species, one fossil subspecies, one subfossil species, one subfossil subspecies and at least 160 recent species. This collection became the largest avian palaeontological collection of the Balkan during the last 15 years.